Avengers: Doomsday‘s first trailer is officially out. While there are some huge moments in it, the new MCU trailer shows that Marvel Studios is still chasing its past highs in some key ways.
“Universes collide and the Multiverse Saga begins its final chapter in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday. Beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and ultimately face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered. This epic film will lay the foundation for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” reads the film’s official synopsis.
The film is set to feature a huge cast, which includes Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby’s Invisible Woman/Sue Storm, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Letitia Wright’s Shuri/Black Panther, and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, among others. Avengers: Doomsday is set to release on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is set to release a year later on December 17, 2027.
Avengers: Doomsday trailer review
For Marvel fans, the new Doomsday trailer had pretty much everything you could really want. We finally got a proper look at Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, the return of Captain America into the Avengers fold, and even our first official look at the updated X-Men suits that will be worn in the movie by the original franchise’s cast. The trailer also had some pretty standout action moments, including a brief look at a battle between Thor and Doctor Doom, which doesn’t seem to end well for Thor.
However, while the trailer was filled with big moments, it underscored an even bigger problem Marvel Studios is facing. The MCU as a whole has been in a very complicated place since Avengers: Endgame became one of the biggest movies ever. The superhero franchise has had to pivot off of stories several times, with Doomsday serving as the biggest, having only been conceived after the MCU’s next villain, Kang the Conqueror, was forced to be scrapped following Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence scandal.
As it stands, the MCU is clearly trying to build back up some of the goodwill that it lost over the years since Endgame. Since the epic conclusion to the Thanos-filled saga, the MCU has had trouble finding its footing. Movies like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts* were awesome entries, but other projects like Captain America: Brave New World, Secret Invasion, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania have left folks more or less disinterested in a lot of the MCU now.
The Doomsday trailer is very clearly trying to recapture the high-stakes feel of Endgame, with the movie itself centering around another colossal battle set to take place. The problem Marvel Studios has, though, is making all of this feel as compelling as it was in the early days. With little to no set up of Doom outside of this movie, it’ll be a hard task to accomplish, but they look very keen on trying.
